Question

How can we get our toddler to sleep in?

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My toddler used to sleep until 8 or 9 a.m., but ever since she moved to a big-girl bed she wakes up ridiculously early. We've tried letting her stay up late and asking her to play in her room when she wakes up, but it hasn't helped. We're really struggling with her new schedule because we also have a 7-week-old. Help!

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Two suggestions. First, our daughter (then 14 months) started waking up earlier and earlier. I bought a roll of black poster paper and covered the windows. The first morning she slept until her usual wake-up time again, so once I determined this was the right "fix" I purchased "blackout" blinds (which have foil on the inside and are more attractive than foil or black paper). We had problems again at 19 months and re-ferberized her. We went in at 5 or 6 when she woke up and told her it was nightime and she had to sleep. We had two mornings of crying but now she's back to sleeping until 7:30 or 8.

Just wanted to add another easy and effective way to darken a room -- aluminum foil is light weight and totally opaque! We just tape it up over the windows in our child's room and then close the blinds so we don't have to see the foil. We even travel with a roll because it is so easy to put up and then tear down when we leave. If you don't like the aesthetic from the outside, we have also put up coloured tissue paper first, even with pretty cut-outs, and then the foil goes up over top. It can be fun especially around holidays to have your child help you make easter bunnies, christmas trees, or whatever.

In our case, we find that any time our 23 month old son goes to bed "late" (any time after his normal 6:30 bed time!) he will wake up between 4:30-5:30! BUT when we make sure he is in bed at his normal time (6:30) he will sleep uninterupted until 6:30-7ish. Consistency make a HUGE difference to him! It is often a pain (especially now when summer is coming along with cookouts, weddings and parties!) but we try really hard to keep to his bed time as much as possible and it really makes life a little easier on my husband and I!

This is so natural. It happened with both my kids!! It has been my experience that nothing I have tried will make them sleep longer. But I can get them to at least stay in their room and play or read until a decent hour. They have these really neat clocks for kids that show when it is night time and day time. You could try one and tell your child that they can't come out of their room until their special clock says it is time too. Have a chart that your child can put a sticker on every time they stay in their room until they are supposed to. And have a reward for them when the chart is full!! Positive reinforcement works like a charm for my kids!!

My three year old used to sleep seven till seven but not always and when in cot she would just play with teddys untill either fell asleep again or got bored, then went in big bed and gets up if wakes up but i have stair / door gate on her door way so she can't get out and she will go back to bed when told too. My two year old wont she had to go into toddler bed as kept climbing out of cot has a gate on her door too but its had to be changed twice she worked them out and she doesnt always cry or come into my room she just plays. last night she manged to work out her sisters gate and was in her roomat five and the night before in the bathroom at three - just wide awake playing with toys. She has sea noise in her room as she is a very light sleeper a black out blind, a very dull night light, eats well has only one short nap in the mid afternoon. It seems to go in cycles she will have two weeks sleeping through then a few nights not. I have 10 wk old too he sleeps through now.

My daughter is 14 months old. Her bed time is anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30. She wakes up anywhere from 10-11 am and has a 2-3 hour nap around 2 pm. when we brought her home ahe slept in our room until she was 6 months old and then she went in her room and put herself to sleep. our room is always dark due to my husband working nights, so when i moved her to her room i put 2 layers of dark, black, heavy curtains up. in front of her windows to keep it dark in her room and i also have a radio in her room and turn it on when i lay her down (it drowns out any background noise i.e dogs barking or me cleaning) it works wonders! I am a stay at home mom And enjoy sleeping in. I hope this helps! :)

How discouraging to see someone asking a good question, then seeing all these negative comments about, oh you should expect a lack of sleep, and its illogical to want your baby to sleep late. My son wakes during the night, goes to bed at 830 and still wakes up between 6-730 daily. Sometimes it takes 2+ hrs to get him back to sleep during his night wakes. This has started since we got back from ourvacation. I'm thinking it could be a handful of reasons why he isn't sleeping well anymore.
I must say though that to the people who areactually giving advice and not being rude or judgmental, THANK YOU! Some people just need to look past their own "perfect parenting" and see that some things come easier to some people than it does others. I will be trying a few things I have read on this post. Thanks again for the advice.

All family schedules are different. To those people putting down the parents who want their children to sleep a little later in the mornings and pretty much scolding them, back off! Just because it's not something that's important to YOUR family, doesn't mean that this is the case for everyone! And if you're happy with your child sleeping at 8p and waking up at 6am, good for you but it's definitely NOT unrealistic to expect more sleep from your child. Some people would think it's crazy to get up that early and spend "quality time" with your child. That's a good way to look at it as you cope with your lack of sleep. And now I start to sound judgmental, but my point is that we are all different. All children are different and all family needs are different. We all love our children and want the best for our family, including ourselves. Please stop being rude and judgmental. This is not what babycenter is about. You could easily share your experience without scolding others.

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